No figure drawing session today because of the holiday, but last week I painted this pastel portrait of our lovely model. Thought I had her captured for a moment, but then I seemed to lose it a bit… Funny thing with portraits, a good likeness is VERY important if you are working to please a patron. But sometimes it is just fun to play with the figure and see how it comes out. After all, if the viewer doesn’t actually know the model, they cannot be disappointed if the portrait isn’t an exact replica of the person. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
Plein air pastel floral painting of a pot of begonias in the sun.
Pastel painting 6 inches x 8 inches
Quick sketch of newly planted begonias on our back deck. They made such a bright and hopeful subject, I just couldn’t resist doing a flower pastel painting of them!
Hope you all have a sunny, happy Memorial Day Weekend!
For all of you wonderful followers who noted how amazing it was that I was able to get so much detail into the painting in my last post, I have a confession to make. There was a slight typo in the size of the painting. The width is actually 11 inches wide. Not 1 inch as mistakenly posted originally. Talk about miniature paintings!!!
My dog, Roxy, and I trucked out to the pond peninsula near our house on Saturday afternoon. We love it out there because Roxy can explore off-leash, and I can paint without worrying that she will be run over by a speeding car full of teenagers. Win-win. This little stand of pines looked like a good subject for a pastel landscape. I wanted to work in a relatively monochromatic color scheme. Everything in Michigan is sooooo verdant right now. As a plein air artist, that can be kind of overwhelming. I decided that I could either avoid all of the green, or embrace it. And in this case, I was happy with the outcome!
Plein air pastel landscape painting of an old Michigan farmhouse in the sunlight.
Pastel painting 11.5 inches x 8.5 inches
Yay! This Michigan artist is finally smiling! We actually had sunshine here on Saturday. I did my usual plein air thang and wandered the back roads til I found something that caught my eye. I was yearning for bright light and shadows and this old farmhouse did the trick. I love doing paintings of architecture – especially historical buildings. The owners told me his home was built in 1847 and it’s still a gorgeous structure. After I finished this pastel landscape, I drove for an hour looking for another spot, not wanting to waste the sunshine. Somehow I ended up back at home, painting at the pond in our subdivision. Go figure.
Pastel painting of a garden sculpture in the spring.
Pastel painting 10 inches x 13 inches
Wednesday was another day in the continuing saga of constant rain in Michigan. We were supposed to have a plein air meet that morning, but it was drizzling and I was the only one who showed up. I started this pastel painting of a statue in the park but the rain forced me back into the car twice. I finally left the garden painting unfinished and gave up for the day. Maybe I will try to work back into it on another day…
Pastel portrait painting of an African American woman
Pastel painting 12 inches x 17 inches
We were happy to have Marge as our model again at our figure drawing session on Monday. This is the third time I’ve painted her pastel portrait and I’ve loved it every time. She’s definitely one of my favorites. She has wonderful facial structure and lovely skin tones. I think this is the closest likeness I’ve captured of her.
I finally realized today that the way I create portraits is very much like creating a clay sculpture. I start with an almost skeletal sketch of the protruding and receding bone structure, cheeks, nose, chin, eye sockets, etc. Then I start adding skin and slowly build up the light areas that come forward. It was a bit of a revelation to me…
I’ve been working in the studio for months on pastel paintings from my last trip to Italy. Although I am keeping them under wraps til the show at River Gallery in Chelsea, Michigan in November and December, I thought I would post a work-in-progress demonstration of one of the the landscape paintings.
I started out by painting an archival illustration board with Art Spectrum Terra Cotta Pastel Primer. Its my favorite color to work from and painting the gritty surface on myself allows me to add a little texture. The random strokes of the pumice mixture creates high and low areas on the board and gives the pastel a more painterly feel when I apply it. I sketched my rough drawing in Nupastel bottle green and added other basic shapes in. Then I sprayed with a workable fixative.
Slowly adding more colors and elements with Nupastel and Rembrandt pastels. I usually don’t spray anymore after this point.
Really getting into the meat of the piece. Focusing on the center of interest, the highlighted tree and brick wall in the distance. As you can see, I work on all areas of the composition at the same time, as apposed to finishing one area completely and moving on to the next. I feel that the painting is a constant work in progress and every stroke affects the other areas.
Pushing both the lights and darks to create the vision I have in my mind. Although I start with a photograph for reference, the finished piece rarely looks like it. I also work from the memory of the place and what attracted me to it. This scene was behind the monastery where we stayed and I visited it often. The vibrant light in the shaded orchard was electrifying.
Last finishing touches. I often leave some of the Terra cotta color shining through in my pastel landscape paintings. The contrast of the complementary green and reddish orange makes for a vibrating exiting color scheme.
Plein air pastel painting of a bird bath in a spring garden.
Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11.5 inches
Didn’t have time today for a full painting foray in the big world so I decided to do a pastel landscape right in my own backyard. Our bleeding hearts are in full show and I liked how they looked behind our birdbath. People were cutting grass and sawing wood all around me so this garden painting is much more peaceful than the actual experience of creating it was!
Plein air pastel landscape painting of a Michigan wetland area.
Pastel painting 8.5 inches x 11.5 inches
Yay! First plein air painting of the season in the Mitten State!
Its difficult to be a Michigan artist who loves plein air painting. Unless you are willing to brave the frigid cold, 4 or 5 months of the year are just plain shot. And, on top of that, we have had a very hard spring this year. Add that to a busy work schedule and very little outdoor work gets done. Today was the first time I was able to get out and work from life. The sparkling water in the wetlands near my house grabbed my attention, so I parked on a rutted, dirt road and went to work out of the back of my SUV. Ahhhhh…. it feels so good to get in nature to work on pastel landscapes!
Another pastel portrait of Tom! By now, some of you must feel that you know our models intimately. Its nice to be able to paint people a couple of times. You always learn something new with each attempt. One of our artists is setting up a 9-hour figure drawing session, divided into 3 days. I soooo wanted to be a part of it, but my Montana trip will interfere. I have never participated in a session that lasted more than a couple of hours and its been on my artist “bucket list” for a while now. Maybe I can make the next one…
Plein air watercolor landscape painting of a footpath in Montana
Plein air watercolor painting 5 inches x 7 inches
I’m going out to Bonanza Creek in Montana this June! Beth and I are going to ride the hills with a great gaggle of cowgirls who are as excited as we are. I’ve been looking at new cowboy boots and dreaming of days on horseback. I’ll be bringing my watercolors and painting in the afternoons after our rides. This little plein air watercolor painting was done the last time I visited my sister in Dillon. Can’t wait to paint watercolor landscapes of the beautiful western countryside again!
